At my day job we used to use the registry hack you write about to enable autologin on our public computers. It works, but you need to do a custom registry file for each and every account you need to login automatically. Also, the password is stored unencrypted in the registry which can be a security issue.

Jageorge thanks for the link. Do I take it you have more than one account set to auto login on each computer?
I like the fact it encrypts the stored password, but the registry requires admin access anyway so I'm not sure it's necessary? If you are allowing auto login for a public computer you better have settings locked down like crazy.

To bhegner - We have multiple PCs that each login automatically to one specific account based on the PC's branch location in the library district where I work.

Actually, we have a fairly open system for public use. We have found that allowing access to the local file system and to parts of the Control Panel isn't as dangerous as we first thought it would be. We use Group Policy to lock down the critical bits and also use Faronics DeepFreeze so the OS doesn't get trashed when users encounter malware or dodgy websites.

The American scientist Paul Ehrlich once said, "To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer." At risk of hyperbole, it is my humble opinion that a greater truth has never been uttered.